| Date: 17 February 2008
Characters: Theta Sigma, The Master, The Doctor Location: dining room, outside Link to IJ: thread #63943 |
 Theta wandered. It was a habit that was going to carry on for the rest of his life. But right now he brought him to sitting on a table in the middle of a dining room, legs crossed under him with a plate of biscuits and a wondering expression on his face, like shock. |
 The Master wandered into the dining room, saw Thete sitting on the table, and stared in open mouthed shock for a moment. |
| "Want one of these?" he asked, holding up a biscuit and waving it a bit. |
| "Actually, I was craving something sweet, yes." He grabbed a chair, planted it next to the table, sat down in it, and snatched up a cookie, grinning mischievously.
He was in a weird mood today, and running into an eight year old Doctor was bloody strange. But he felt good. |
| "Theta," he offered, tilting his head at the Master curiously. |
| "I know who you are, Theta Sigma." he rolled his eyes. "I'm a little wounded you don't recognize me." Not terribly so - he hadn't recognized the Rani when he first got here, after all, and Theta wasn't really up on the in and outs of regeneration yet. But, he'd hoped a little.
...Then he had the awful thought that maybe this Theta hadn't met him yet, or never would. |
| Theta narrowed his eyes for a minute, studying the Master before squeaking, scrambling off the table and onto the Master's lap, "Koschei! He said there was an old you here!" |
| Okay. Now he had a lapful of squirmy eight year old Doctor. He tentatively gave him a hug, as reassuring as he could manage, given how odd that was. Poor kid's mind had looked a little blown when he's come in.
"It's me, yup. Who said there was an older me here?" |
| "Koschei did," Theta snuggled happily, comfortably. |
| He snorted. "Context, Theta. Makes what you say make more sense." |
| "My Koschei is here," he rolled his eyes because wow, Koschei was so not ever changing, "And he said he met me when I was older and a few regenerations in and that one had said you were around." |
| "There's a tiny me here?" the Master asked, slightly mortified. Wow, that had the potential to be really embarrassing. "There's several of both us around." He wasn't sure how to break to Thete that not all them were the friendliest of people.
"How long have you been here? Did you and he pop in together?" |
| "I've only been here a few days." He tugged at the Master's tie lightly, "Koschei's been here for months. alone." |
| The Master gently detached him from the tie. "Haven't seen him. No one's mentioned him to me, in fact. What's he been doing?"
He was trying to imagine himself in a place like this, that age, without the Doctor around for months. Wasn't working. |
| "Reading. He likes the library. " |
| "If that's keeping him busy, good for him. Keep him out of trouble." |
| "Koschei doesn't get into trouble!" Theta lied loyally. |
| He held up his right hand, and ticked off. "One. Remember who you're talking to. I know better. Although I remember it being your idea, quite a lot. Still is, in fact. Two. You can't lie to me, Theta. I always find out. Don't even try." |
| Theta sighed and climbed back onto the table, facing the Master. "It's still my idea? We're still best friends?" |
| "Best friends," he promised, squelching done that little part of him that felt like he was lying to the Doctor. It was true. |
| Theta grinned, bright and sunny, "Good." |
| "It is good, isn't it? Wouldn't have it any other way." He scooped up his cookie and munched on it for a moment, content to ignore times when that wasn't so. |
| "Can I meet him? Me, I mean." |
| His face went blank with surprise for a second. He couldn't think why not, so he said. "I suppose so. If you want to. He went wandering off a bit ago, like he does. But I'm sure we could track him down. I do have a knack for it." |
| Theta jumped down, holding his hand out automatically, "So tell me about what happens. What do we do?" |
| He took Theta's hand, on automatic as well, and wandered out. Oh, god, he was picking up strays wasn't he? Three made it a habit, even if one of them was, well, the Doctor. "Uh, not sure how much I should say. First law of time and all that. We've been hanging on Earth a bit, recently, though." |
| "Earth!" He bounced a bit, "This place is like earth, isn't it?" |
| He grinned down at Theta's bouncing. Some things never did change. "Quite a lot like late 20th century or early 21st century Earth, yes. Although all sorts of things keep popping up that don't fit in, and I don't just mean the people." |
| "What do you mean then?" |
| "Well, the robot servitors. Completely out of place with Earth in that time period. And the menus are strangely. Malleable. Craving something from another time or place? It suddenly seems to be available. Makes me wonder if any of this is place is real in any physical sense, or just a very very realistic psychic projection." |
| "Who's that psychically adept?" Theta asked with a frown, "That...how many Time Lords are here? We'd know, wouldn't we?" |
| "I don't know, he admitted, "There's a number of us around. This place is screwing with all our senses a bit. The running theory is that this is a pocket universe. But as I said - it's strangely sensitive to our thoughts." He paused. "You do know there we're not just popping in from different times and places, but different universes, right? You and I may not even be from the same universe. There are several of us around whose time lines diverged ages ago." |
| "No," Theta frowned even more, trying to get that, "Why hasn't the council taken care of this then? This sort of thing will make a knot in time and space, won't it?" |
| "Our preliminary conclusion is that this place is stable, for the time being," he said, with a measure of authority, to reassure Theta. And to avoid the question of the fate of the High Council.
There was the Doctor ahead, flopped in the park, reading something. It was his Doctor, right? He squinted. Black converses, red rose, check. He moved in that direction. |
| "Based on what?" he asked, as bossy as ever, hands on his hips, letting go of the Master's hand to do so. |
| He stopped, looked back at Theta, and to restraint himself from laughing in Theta's face. He was being so Doctorish, and yet looked so utterly ridiculous. Come to think of it, that was about par of the course for the Doctor, too.
"Some readings from a couple of TARDII, and the collective knowledge of a quite a few Time Lords a lot older then you. Including yourself, and you're the expert on temporal anomalies in uncontrolled conditions. Speaking off, do you want to stand here arguing with me, or meet yourself?" He jerked him head in the Doctor's direction. |
| "Oh, if I say it's fine, then," he gazed at the Doctor, then turned his most innocent expression on the Master, "Is he armed?" |
| Well, yes, but what kind of question was that, the Master wondered. "Why do you ask? I think I'm missing the joke," he said, knowing the Theta's brain was going off one of its funny tangents that he sometimes couldn't quite follow without, well, context. |
| "Because if I jump on him and he's armed we could have quite a problem, now couldn't we?"
It should have been wrong for an eight year to sound that patronizing. But well. |
| "He will not accidentally, or on purpose, shoot you." The Master informed Theta, with mock primness. His eyes dancing, he said, "Go ahead. This ought to be good." |
| He flashed a lightening quick grin then broke into a run, pouncing on the Doctor, sitting lightly on his stomach and snatching his book. |
 The Doctor did freak the fuck out of second, but processed that it was child that had pounced him, before he could even reach for his laser screwdriver.
"What was that for?" he yelped. He tried to sit up, and to snatch back his book. |
| The Master just strolled casually over, looking positively wicked. He peered down at both of them. |
| Theta stayed on the Doctor's stomach, gesturing towards the Master, "That man in the tie told me to," he lied blithely. |
| The Doctor looked at the Master and groaned, flopping back for a second. "I'll bet he did. What this all about then? And can I have my book back, please? It's a signed first edition." |
| "You have a Tardis operator's license. You can get another one," he tried to read the title. |
| The Master nearly choked himself trying not to laugh while he said, "Of course he does." He flopped on the grass next to them. |
| The Doctor glared at the Master for that hidden barb, and then told the kid, "But I like that one. No, seriously, what's this about?"
He was being a little slow. |
| "Koschei, you didn't tell me he was brain damaged," Theta said reproachfully, handing the book back. |
| "Oh, since age eight at least. Progressively worse. Very tragic. He literally wouldn't know what to do without me," the Master said solemnly. His expression shifted from wicked, to his most innocent. |
| The Doctor set the book aside, actually looked at the boy, and sighed, looking very put upon. "You're me. Got it." |
| Theta had paled at the Master's statement before he decided Koschei was teasing and really studied the Doctor. "I don't want those ears." |
| "Should have seen the last ones," the Master put in, "Well, you probably will, one way or another." The patted Thete on the back, knowing he'd freaked him out a bit. And. Yeah, there a little bit of uncomfortable truth to his teasing, that he hadn't thought about before he said it. |
| "What's wrong with them? I like this face. He likes this face," he gestured to the Master. "All that matters, I think." |
| "Do we get married then?" Theta asked casually, still sitting on the Doctor and not showing any signs of moving. "I'd always thought we would and Koschei liking my face doesn't really matter if we're not." |
| The Master eyes widened comically. This conversation had suddenly taken an even weirder turn. Also, he'd never known that. |
| The Doctor was also flustered for a second. "How old are you again?" he asked, lamely. "We're together, yes." Because there was really no point in hiding that. |
| "I'm eight," Theta just looked smug, "How old are you?" |
| The Doctor sat up, picked up his younger self, and put him on the grass into front him. He crossed his legs, rested his elbows on his knees.
"Oh, somewhere around a thousand?" |
| "He lost track," the Master said helpfully. |
| Theta crossed his legs under him and sighed, "Were you serious about the brain damage? Do I need to start preparing Koschei for a future with a brain damaged partner? He's fragile, you know, the stress of this could make his headaches worse." |
| A shadow passed over the Doctor's face, at the mention of the headaches. They had both been fragile, at times. "Nope. My brain's fine. I'm just busy. Deal with timey wimey stuff a lot," he said as cheerfully as possible. |
| "I'm not that fragile," the Master protested. But his hearts weren't quite in it. |
| "You might not be," Theta dismissed,"You're over a thousand, not eight." He frowned then, and turned his attention to the Master. "You said the one before and he's only a thousand. I've gone through two regenerations in less than a thousand years?"
He frowned at the Doctor, scolding slightly, "That is not being careful!" |
| The Doctor shrugged. "Can't always be careful, when you're not on Gallifrey. Lots of dangerous stuff out there." |
| "I'm doing to my best to convince him to be more careful," the Master told Theta. |
| "Thank you, but your hair is blond," Theta pointed out, eyes narrowed, "So you've regenerated at least once." |
| That hit home. This was harder then he's expected. He wanted to pick Theta up, and hide him from all the terrible things he knew were more then likely coming. Find his younger self, and tell him not to be a pig headed brat and ask for help.
"Life isn't always what one expects at your age. Please drop it, Thete," he pleaded. |
| The Doctor sighed and leaned against the Master a bit. Old good memories weren't exactly less painful then the bad ones.
"We'll be fine. We'll look out for each other." He really, really hoped that was true. |
| "Okay," he said softly, shifting to sit on his hands, wanting his Koschei. "I'll drop it." |
| "Thank you," the Master said. He leaned forward, and scooped Theta up in a hug. "I'm very lucky to have you as a friend. Never ever forget that." Even if it seems like I have, he thought to himself. |
| Theta wrapped his arms around the Master's, holding onto him tightly for a moment "I know." |
| The Master slowly let Theta go, and he shot the Doctor an amused looked. "Clearly, I wasn't mis-remembering that your ego knew no bounds, even at that age." |
| "Like you have room to talk," the Doctor said as mildly as he could. He was touched by the Master's outpouring of emotion to his younger self. "He doesn't, does he?" he asked Theta. |
| "I don't think he's as bad as me," Theta said honestly, "But I am fairly wonderful, all things considered." |
| The Doctor laughed, "Yes. Yes, you are. Fantastic, even." |
| He grinned at the Doctor, flushing slightly, "I should go find Koschei." |
| Whatever would happen to this Theta, back in his universe, would happen. But if Theta came to harm at the hands of one of his counterparts here, because he hadn't been warned, he'd never forgive himself.
"Be careful," he said seriously, urgently. "There are some not nice people around. And I don't want to frighten you - including, unfortunately, a couple of me that seems to have some nasty tempers on them. They still get those headaches, I think. I don't think they'd do anything to either of you, but I thought you should know, just to be on the safe side. Ok?" |
| Theta frowned, then said utterly convinced, "You wouldn't hurt me. I would never hurt Koschei. And neither of us are stupid enough to hurt ourselves." |
| All of those statements were dead wrong. Theta's certainty was was like a kick to the chest, worse then anything else he'd yet experienced here. It was the all the Master could do to keep from crying. He would not cry, he told himself. He didn't cry. |
| The Doctor took the Master's hand. He'd been wondering when he's finally show outward signs of how much this place was fucking with him. Screwing with them both their heads.
"We're just saying to be careful," he said slowly, "This isn't the Citadel, with everything carefully controlled." |
| "I'll be careful," Theta frowned at them both, standing and mussing his own hair, "This is better than the Citadel." |
| "Yes, I suppose it is. Go have fun," the Doctor said, hoping they hadn't frightened him too much. |
| Theta kissed each of their cheeks than bolted off. |
| The Doctor watched Theta bolt out of sight, and then he pulled the Master into a tight hug. "You are also wonderful, and brilliant, and brave, and I'm very lucky to have you. I should have always told you that more." |
| The Master buried his face in the Doctor's shoulder, trembling a bit and hating it. "I appreciate that. Really, truly I do. So don't take this the wrong way - kindly shut up."
He just needed to breathe, and hold on. This would pass. |